1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to an article counter, and, more particularly, to such an article counter designed for use by a commercial laundry. As articles to be laundered pass through a pneumatic chute, they drop through a special chamber in which a light beam is internally reflected within a five sided chamber to form a star shaped pattern and then directed to a light beam receiver. The star shaped pattern offers much improved light beam coverage of the chamber such that any article passing through any part of the chamber will pass through at least one of the reflected beams, thus reliably breaking the beam and toggling a counter.
2. Description of the Related Art
Counters for counting articles, such as laundry articles, passing through a chute are well known. Many such counters operate by the use of a light beam emitter positioned on one side of the chute directing light to a light beam receiver on the opposite side of the chute. An electronic counter is triggered by each interruption of the beam by an article of laundry passing through the chute.
A problem with these prior art arrangements is the limited beam coverage of the chute. In other words, a single beam of light passing through the center of the chute can be missed by a small article of laundry, such as a napkin, handkerchief or the like, dropping through the chute along one side thereof. This results in inaccurate article counts and a consequent loss of revenue to the laundry since charges are typically made based upon counted numbers of laundered articles.
It is clear then, that a need exists for an improved commercial laundry article counter. Such a counter should insure that even small laundry items passing through a chute are guaranteed to break a portion of the light beam and thus toggle the counter.